News

Alabama Medicaid budget cuts likely without additional funding

Medicaid
program cuts became more likely after the Alabama Legislature adjourned its
annual session May 4 without providing the additional funds needed by the
Alabama Medicaid Agency to maintain its current operations and reform its
existing fee-for-service system.

Alabama
Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar emphasized that without additional
funding, the Alabama Medicaid program will have to make significant changes.

“I think it’s
important for Medicaid providers and recipients to prepare for the impact of
these cuts, because this is the budget for Medicaid at this point in time,” she
added.

Governor Robert
Bentley had asked for $785 million from the General Fund to continue the
existing Medicaid program without payment reductions to primary care physicians
and other cuts and to move forward with the Agency’s transformation initiative.
The Legislature appropriated $700 million to the Agency from the General Fund
and later overrode the governor’s veto of the $1.8 billion budget.

At an April
news conference, Governor Bentley and Commissioner Azar warned that the $700
million Medicaid appropriation from the General Fund budget will require the
Agency to cut services and provider payments to balance its budget in the
fiscal year that begins October 1, 2016. No decision has been made regarding
what cuts will be made or the timetable for the cuts to be made, Commissioner
Azar said.

In making cuts,
the Agency is limited to programs and services that are considered “optional”
by the federal government. To make up the shortfall, Medicaid can cut benefits
for adult eyeglasses, hospice, outpatient dialysis, prosthetics and orthotics,
and medications for adults.